Transition to Quality 4.0 and lean4.0 from traditional lean and quality systems: The case of a packaging company in South Africa

Abstract

This paper aims at evaluating the implementation of lean manufacturing 4.0 and quality 4.0 to eliminate waste in an FMCG packaging organization in South African. The paper attempts to find a connection between quality, lean, and industry 4.0 that will promote organizational success. The importance of this research investigation was to provide proper results that will help the organization understudy in finding better methods of improving its operations. A mixed approach where both quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used to gather the information for the research. The population of the study included all the organization’s departments, employees, and machinery. A purposive sample of 20 employees that operate in the cup’s department was used together with 130 cups that were randomly selected for inspection. The results showed that variability was a major downfall for the organization that was caused by a malfunction in the system (1); the influx of bins at the waste station (2); the difference in the bins used (3) as well as some machine not being uploaded in the system (4) are some of the key sources of variability. Thus, the use of lean and quality 4.0 which are combinations of the traditional lean and quality practices together with technology to have proper control over the production. Suggestions such as ERP software and define digitalized Standard Operating Processes would improve the operating process of the organization.